




















MESSAGE 


FROM THE 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 

JRANSMITTING 

A LETTER OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE SUBMITTING A REPORT 
OF THE COMMISSION WHICH VISITED LIBERIA IN PURSUANCE 
OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE DEFICIENCY ACT OF MARCH 4, 1909, 
“TO INVESTIGATE THE INTERESTS OF THE UNITED STATES 
AND ITS CITIZENS IN THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA, WITH THE 
CONSENT OF THE AUTHORITIES OF SAID REPUBLIC.” 


March 25, 1910.—Read; referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations and 
ordered to be printed. 


To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I lay before the Congress herewith a report submitted by the com¬ 
mission which visited Liberia in pursuance of the provisions of the 
deficiency act of March 4, 1909, “ to investigate the interests of the 
United States and its citizens in the Republic of Liberia, with the 
consent of the authorities of said Republic.” 

This report is accompanied by a communication of the Secretary 
of State reciting the conditions under which the Liberian common¬ 
wealth was founded through the efforts of the Government of the 
United States and American citizens, and commenting on the recom¬ 
mendations of the commission touching the course to be pursued by 
this Government in aid of Liberia at this juncture of stress and need. 
I cordially concur in the views of the Secretary of State and trust 
that the policy of the United States toward Liberia will be so shaped 
as to fulfill our national duty to the Liberian people who, by the 
efforts of this Government and through the material enterprise of 
American citizens, were established on the African coast and set on 
the pathway to sovereign statehood. 

Wm. H. Taft. 

The White House, March 25, 1910. 











2 AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 

Report oe the Secretary of State to the President Concerning 
Affairs in Liberia. 

To the President: 

For a number of years past the Republic 
a notable degree embarrassed in its internal government, its finances, 
and its relations with the powers possessing territories adjacent to it. 
The Republic has on several occasions sought counsel and solicited 
aid from the Government of the United States to make head against 
the difficulties which beset it. 

In June, 1908, the troubles of Liberia, both internal and with 
the Government of Great Britain, reached so acute a phase that the 
Liberian Government sent a special commission to the United States 
to ask for assistance in maintaining the independence of the Republic 
and to enable it to carry on a peaceful, orderly, and efficient govern¬ 
ment. 

My predecessor, on the 18th of January, 1909, made a report to the 
President, briefly reviewing the situation and advising that Congress 
be asked for an appropriation to pay the expenses of a commission 
of experienced and judicious American citizens to visit Liberia and 
there examine the situation and confer with the officers of the 
Liberian Government and with the representatives of other govern¬ 
ments with a view to reporting recommendations as to the specific 
action on the part of the United States which would constitute the 
most effective measure of relief. This report was laid by the Presi¬ 
dent before Congress January 19, 1909, accompanied by correspond¬ 
ence had with the Liberian representatives and with the British 
Government, indicating the desire and expectation of Great Britain 
for action which would emphasize and give definite shape to the 
deep interest which Great Britain and the United States feel in the 
welfare of Liberia and the perpetuity of its government. 

Provision having been made in the deficiency act of March 4, 1909, 
“ To enable the State Department to investigate the interests of the 
United States and its citizens in the Republic of Liberia, with the 
consent of the authorities of said Republic, twenty thousand dollars,” 
the President appointed Mr. Roland P. Falkner, Mr. George Sale, 
and Mr. Emmett J. Scott as such commissioners. They visited 
Liberia and entered upon a comprehensive and thorough examina¬ 
tion of all conditions bearing upon the purpose of their mission. 
The result is embodied in a report, accompanied by recommendations 
as to the course to be pursued by the Government of the United 
States with respect to Liberia. The report is herewith submitted. 

Before considering the recommendations of the commission, it is 
proper to advert to the connection of the United States with the 
establishment of the Liberian Republic. The movement began in 
the latter part of the eighteenth century. As early as 1781 Thomas 
Jefferson advocated the gradual abolition of slavery by enfranchise¬ 
ment, deportation, and colonization. At that time there were num¬ 
bers of enfranchised Africans in the United States, some liberated by 
the act of their masters, others freed by reason of having been 
captured upon slave-trade ships, and the act of 1794, which prohibited 
the carrying on of the slave trade from the United States to any 
foreign place or country, was followed in 1800 and 1803 by prohibi¬ 
tion of the importation of slaves and again in 1807. By 1800 the 

APR 0 1910 






eria has been to 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


3 


numbers of enfranchised Africans had become sufficiently notable to 
lead the legislature of Virginia to request the Government to cor¬ 
respond with the President “ on the subject of purchasing land with¬ 
out the limits of this State whither persons obnoxious to the law or 
dangerous to the peace of society may be removed,” and recommend¬ 
ing Africa as an appropriate site. 

Apart from this proposal for colonial deportation, prompted by 
motives of policy, there had been a philanthropic movement for 
negro colonization, and as early as 1773 Samuel Hopkins broached a 
scheme looking to missionary work in Africa with a nucleus of 
trained natives from the United States and provision for colonies. 
The Revolutionary war halted this project, but it was revived in 
1787 coincidently with the scheme of Wilberforce and other British 
philanthropists to colonize some 400 liberated African slaves at 
Sierra Leone. The American scheme, however, fell through for 
lack of funds. 

The project of African colonization of American negroes took for¬ 
mal shape soon after the enactment of the statute of 1818, by which 
slave trade was made piracy. A supplementary act of March 3,1819, 
provided, by section 2, that negroes from captured slavers should be 
safely kept, supported, and removed “ beyond the limits of the United 
States.” The President was authorized to make arrangements for 
such removal and to appoint a proper person or persons, residing upon 
the coast of Africa, as agent or agents for receiving the negroes taken 
from captured slavers by the armed vessels of the United States. 
One hundred thousand dollars was appropriated to carry out the 
act, and from 1826 to 1845 appropriations were made at intervals for 
the support of the agency or for the keep and deportation of the 
liberated negroes. 

The passage of the acts of 1818 and 1819 is believed to have been 
stimulated by the American Colonization Society, which had been 
organized in 1816. The plan for this colonization society was started 
through missionary agencies and taken up by the States of Maryland 
and Virginia. Henry Clay strongly advocated the scheme, and John 
Randolph enlarged upon its advantages in removing a class of per¬ 
sons then deemed liable to become a burden upon the community. 
The colonization society elected officers January 1, 1817, and in 
March, 1818, sent a ship to negotiate for a site near Sierra Leone. 
Sherbro Island, now a part of the coast of Liberia, was selected, but 
its acquisition was not consummated, owing to exhaustion of the funds 
of the society. The scheme, however, had so far taken practical shape 
that when called upon to designate a proposed colony under the act 
of March 3, 1819, President Monroe adopted the site chosen by the 
colonization society and appointed two agents, the Rev. Samuel Bacon 
and John P. Bankson, and sent them thither. 

The government agency was, however, kept wholly distinct from 
the colonization society’s venture. The agents were instructed: 

“ To exercise no power founded on the principle of colonization, or other prin¬ 
ciple than that of performing benevolent offices; ” and again “ You are not to 
connect your agency with the views or plans of the colonization society, with 
which, under the law, the Government of the United States has no concern.” 

Yet, as a matter of fact, the agency and colony were practically identical; and 
for years (according to a report of Amos Kendall, Fourth Auditor to the Secre¬ 
tary of the Navy, August, 1830) the resources of the Government were employed 
“ to colonize recaptured Africans, to build homes for them, to furnish them with 


4 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


farming utensils, to pay instructors to teach them, to purchase ships for their 
convenience, to build forts for their protection, to supply them with arms and 
munitions of war, to enlist troops to guard them, and to employ the army and 
navy in their defense.” (McPherson’s History of Liberia. Johns Hopkins, 
publishers, 1891, p. 22.) 

The Treasury Department appears to have expended for the fore¬ 
going purpose, in 1821, $4,361.25, and appropriations for keeping 
up the agency were thereafter made from time to time. 

To carry out the act of 1819 and transport the first installment of 
liberated slave-trade victims, the government agents chartered the 
ship Elizabeth and made provision for conveying and settling 300 
negroes. That number not showing up, the agents “ agreed to re¬ 
ceive on board such free blacks recommended by the society as might 
be required for the purpose of the agency.” Even with this reinforce¬ 
ment but 86 were shipped. The Elizabeth sailed February 6, 1820, 
convoyed to the African coast by the U. S. sloop of Avar Cyane. On 
reaching the coast it Avas found that the natives had repented them¬ 
selves of the Sherbro Island option and refused to sell. The two 
agents and a third of the colonists soon died of fever, and the rest 
went to the near-by British settlement at Sierra Leone. 

The next year a fresh attempt was made. The brig Nautilus Avas 
sent out Avith 28 emigrants under J. B. Winn. They selected a favor¬ 
able spot near Cape Mesurado (miscalled Montserado). The na¬ 
tives refused to sell. Winn returned home disheartened. In Novem¬ 
ber the United States Government took a hand, by sending out a new 
agent, Dr. Eli Ayres, and the naval armed schooner Alligator , com¬ 
manded by Lieut. R. P. Stockton, U. S. Navy. The lieutenant ener¬ 
getically persuaded the natives to sell the Montserado site. The sale 
was effected December 15, 1821, the natives making over to the 
American Colonization Society, represented by Doctor Ayres and 
Lieutenant Stockton, a strip of coast land 130 miles long and 40 
broad, Avith perpetual tenure, for the settlement of American freed 
slaves. The price paid was a miscellaneous assortment of trading 
goods—muskets, powder, tobacco, umbrellas, hats, soap, calico, and 
other things. These supplies appear to have been furnished by the 
colonization society, as no entry of that nature in the statement of 
disbursements under the 1819 appropriation of $100,000 is found. 

Preparations were at once made to found the settlement, to which, 
in honor of the President, the name Monrovia was given. The sur¬ 
viving emigrants of the previous expedition were brought from 
Sierra Leone and established in their neAv home, under Doctor Ayres’s 
care. 

From the outset the State of Maryland identified itself with the 
operations of the American Colonization Society. Huts Avere built 
for the colonists in 1822, and emigrants were dispatched to occupy 
them. The settlers naturally endured great hardship, owing to cli¬ 
matic conditions and the hostility of the native tribes of the interior. 
In November, 1822, the colonists successfully resisted, Avith some as¬ 
sistance from the Sierre Leone settlers, a formidable attack of the 
natives. In 1823 the American naval sloop Cyane again visited the 
coast, bringing more recruits. Other vessels Avith colonists followed, 
and in June, 1824, the U. S. sloop Porpoise arrived, bringing a name 
for the colony, Liberia, and advised as to the most effective way of 
organizing their interests and effectively managing the settlement. 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


5 


The colonists adopted a so-called “ constitution,” which, however, was 
little more than a set of community by-laws, and entered upon a 
scheme of self-administration. 

About 1832 a new phase of the settlement began. Various state 
colonization societies, which had been organized following the ex¬ 
ample of those of Maryland and Virginia, undertook to found sep¬ 
arate settlements on the neighboring coast. The Maryland society 
struck out afresh for itself by establishing a new settlement at Cape 
Palmas to which the name of “ Maryland in Liberia ” was given, and 
to this supplementary settlement a constitution and bill of rights as 
well as an ordinance for the government of the colony were given 
by the society. Societies founded in New York and in Pennsylvania 
settled Bassa Cove; a Mississippi colonization society founded Green¬ 
ville ; a Louisiana society also started another settlement. 

The interests of these independent and rival settlements naturally 
clashed. Energies which might have been potential if devoted to 
carrying out the original purposes of the colony recognized by the 
United States were dissipated among feeble and struggling settle¬ 
ments. The need of general laws and supervision became apparent 
if the essential American character of the settlement and its perpe¬ 
tuity were to be maintained. A movement toward a federation of 
the settlements was successful. All the settlements except Maryland 
in Liberia united in 1837 to form the Commonwealth of Liberia, 
governed by a board of directors delegated by the several parent 
societies in the United States. Thomas Buchanan was chosen gov¬ 
ernor of the new Commonwealth. 

This Commonwealth, like the primary settlement, was merely an 
organized community without international status or sanction. It 
professed no allegiance to any known power nor was it recognized 
by any power as an independent state. Notwithstanding this, it 
asserted one of the prerogatives of sovereignty by imposing customs 
duties upon imported wares. This was resisted by the neighboring 
British colonies of Sierra Leone. The Liberian revenue schooner 
John Seyes , while enforcing the customs collections, was seized by 
a British vessel and carried before the admiralty court at Sierra 
Leone. This led to controversy with the British Government, in 
which the United States intervened to support the complaints of 
officers of the American Colonization Society relative to the diffi¬ 
culties which had arisen between the British traders and the Liberian 
Commonwealth. 

In the course of the correspondence with the British Government 
in 1843 Mr. Webster said: 

Founded principally with a view to the amelioration of the condition of an 
interesting portion of the great human family, this colony has conciliated more 
ahd more the good will, and has from time to time received the support of this 
Government. Without having passed any laws for their regulation, the Ameri¬ 
can Government takes a deep interest in the welfare of the people of Liberia, 
and is disposed to extend to them a just degree of countenance and protection. 

On September 25 Mr. Upshur said: 

To the United States it (Liberia) is an object of peculiar interest. It was 
established by our people and has gone on under the countenance and good 
offices of our" Government. It is identified with the success of a great object, 
which has enlisted the feelings, and called into action the enlarged benevolence, 
of a large proportion of our people. It is natural, therefore, that we should 


6 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


regard it with greater sympathy and solicitude than would attach to it under 
other circumstances. * * * 

For several years it was compelled to defend itself by arms, and unaided, 
against the native tribes, and succeeded in sustaining itself only at a melan¬ 
choly sacrifice of comfort and a lamentable loss of human lives. No nation 
has ever complained that it has acquired territory in Africa; but, on the con¬ 
trary, for twenty-two years it has been allowed with the full knowledge of 
all nations to enlarge its borders from time to time, as its safety or its neces¬ 
sities required. * * * 

It is not perceived that any nation can have just reason to complain that 
this settlement does not confine itself to the limits of its original territory. 
* * * 

This Government does not, of course, undertake to settle and adjust differ¬ 
ences which have arisen between British subjects and the authorities of Li¬ 
beria. Those authorities are responsible for their own acts, and they certainly 
would not expect the support or countenance of this Government in any act of in¬ 
justice toward individuals or nations. But, as they are themselves nearly pow¬ 
erless, they must rely, for the protection of their own rights, on the justice and 
sympathy of other powers. Although no apprehension is entertained that the 
British Government mediates any wrong to this interesting settlement, yet the 
occasion is deemed a fit one for making known, beyond a simple answer to your 
inquiries, in what light it is regarded by the Government and people of the 
United States. It is due to Her Majesty’s Government that I should inform 
you that this Government regards it as occupying a peculiar position and as 
possessing peculiar claims to the friendly consideration of all Christian powers; 
that this Government will be at all times prepared to interpose its good offices 
to prevent any encroachment by the colony upon any just right of any nation; 
and that it would be very unwilling to see it despoiled of its territory right¬ 
fully acquired, or improperly restrained in the exercise of its necessary rights 
and powers as an independent settlement. 

The dispute between the Commonwealth and the British Govern¬ 
ment was not adjusted, by reason of the want of national power on 
the part of the colonists. The remedy for this situation was obvious. 

The parent societies in the United States conveyed their rights 
to the council of the Commonwealth—merely reserving ownership 
of a part of the lands they had purchased—and advised the colonists 
to declare themselves independent, elect an assembly and frame a 
constitution. 

On August 24, 1847, this change was effected with the consent of 
all parties, the Republic of Liberia being duly inaugurated under 
the adopted constitution and the elected President installed. The 
colony of “ Maryland in Liberia ” alone held aloof and continued 
as an independent community unrecognized by any foreign power and 
devoid of any character of sovereignty until April, 1857, when it 
was received into the Republic as Maryland County. 

The entrance of Liberia into the family of nations encountered 
no opposition on the part of the British Government. On the con¬ 
trary, the Republic of Liberia was recognized by England in a few 
weeks and on November 21, 1848, a treaty was signed with Great 
Britain. Soon afterwards Liberia negotiated other treaties witty 
France, the Hanseatic Republics, Belgium and Denmark, thus estab¬ 
lishing its position as a sovereign state. 

The story of Liberia from its earliest inception to its elevation 
to independent statehood demonstrates its American character 
throughout. Its first foothold on the African coastr was through the 
efforts of American citizens. From 1819, the association of the 
Government of the United States with the project is distinct. The 
colony was a necessary factor in the execution of a federal statute. 
The vessels of the United States participated in the initial acts of 
colonization. Negotiations with the inland tribes for the purchase 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


7 


of lands were conducted by officers of the United States. Prior to 
the civil war the United States maintained a squadron on the west 
coast of Africa to suppress the slave trade, and the officers of this 
squadron lent their-aid and assistance to the Liberians in their 
troubles with the natives. In 1886 Congress authorized the Secretary 
of the Navy to transfer a gunboat to Liberia, but no vessel was found 
available for the intended service. 

Thus the resources of the United States Government have been em¬ 
ployed to colonize the liberated Africans, to build homes for them, 
to furnish them with farming utensils, to pay instructors for them, 
to purchase or charter ships for their convenience, to detail naval 
vessels for the transport of its agents and as convoys to the colonists, 
to build forts for the protection of the settlers, to supply them with 
arms and munitions of war, to enlist troops to guard them, and to 
employ the army and navy in their defense. The lands which the 
several state colonies established were purchased with American 
money by the several state societies. The initial organization of the 
Commonwealth was perfected and controlled by the parent societies 
in the United States, and the eventual creation of the Republic of 
Liberia was due to the generous counsel and action of the American 
societies in advising the organization to become an independent state 
and in relinquishing to the new state the directory powers they had 
theretofore exercised. 

Although thus recognized by important European states as a mem¬ 
ber of the confraternity of nations and admitted to the right of 
contracting treaties with them, the recognition of the new republic 
by the United States was long deferred notwithstanding repeated 
overtures on the part of Liberia. It is a matter of legislative his¬ 
tory that the reason for withholding from Liberia the ultimate right 
of Recognition was on the same grounds which long prevented en¬ 
trance into full international relations with the Kepublic of Haiti. 
In the case of Liberia the motives for nonrecognition were even 
stronger, the colony being in part made up of deported freedmen 
established on the African coast by the Government of the United 
States—so that political and racial obstacles naturally interposed to 
prevent recognition so long as slavery endured in the United States. 
It was not until June 3, 1862, that tardy recognition was accorded to 
the Kepublic of Liberia by an act of Congress, whereby the Presi¬ 
dent was authorized to appoint diplomatic representatives of the 
United States to the Republics of Haiti and Liberia, respectively* 
under credence as commissioners and consuls-general. John J. 
Henry, of Delaware, was so commissioned to Liberia March 11, 1863. 

Prior, however, to the establishment of direct diplomatic relations 
with Liberia, the American minister at London, Charles Francis 
Adams, was authorized to negotiate with the President of Liberia, 
Stephen Allen Benson, who resorted to London for the purpose, 
a treaty of commerce and navigation. That treaty was signed 
October 21, 1862, and, professing, as it did, to be concluded upon the 
basis of the most perfect equality and reciprocity, omits all sugges¬ 
tion of original dependence upon the United States, or of obligations 
growing out of such dependence; but it is to be remarked that by 
Article VIII the United States Goverijment “engages never to 
interfere, unless solicited by the Government of Liberia, in the 
affairs between the aboriginal inhabitants and the Government of 


8 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


the Republic of Liberia,” and, further, that should any United States 
citizen suffer loss, in person or property, from violence by the ab¬ 
original inhabitants, and the Government of the Republic of Liberia 
should not be able to bring the aggressor to justice, the United States 
Government engages, upon requisition to that end by the Liberian 
Government, to lend such aid as may be required. No occasion has 
arisen for bringing this particular provision of the treaty into effect. 

The Liberian Government has, however, at various times sought 
aid and counsel from the United States Government, especially in 
its boundary disputes with its neighbors. 

Liberia’s first trouble on this score was with Great Britain. The 
boundaries of the Republic, being based on vague border concessions 
from the native tribes, with which the Republic was often in con¬ 
flict, have never been well defined. In 1849 Liberia claimed pos¬ 
session from Cape Mount on the northwest to San Pedro River on 
the southeast. By 1852 more purchases of land had been effected 
extending nearly to Sherbro Island. In this latter territory Sierra 
Leonians settled, denying Liberian jurisdiction. By 1866 a contro¬ 
versy was acutely raised by Great Britain. A compromise was signed 
by President Roye in 1871 and was rejected by the Liberian Senate. 
An effort to settle the boundary by arbitration with an American um¬ 
pire came to nothing because of the British arbitrator’s refusal to 
submit to the umpire the points in disagreement. At length in 1882 
Great Britain ex parte assigned the Manna River as the boundary. 
Liberia remonstrated but was met by the announcement that Great 
Britain refused to recognize any rights of Liberia to any portions 
of the territory in dispute. At this stage Liberia appealed to the 
United States, which, in view of all the circumstances and of the 
difficulty of proving title under the uncertain conditions of acquisi¬ 
tion and of the obvious incapacity of Liberia to effectively maintain 
administrative control in the territory claimed, counseled Liberia to 
acquiesce and establish a boundary which could be maintained and 
respected. Bv a convention between Liberia and Great Britain, 
signed November 11, 1885, the Manna River boundary was definitely 
fixed. 

The boundary conditions to the southeastward were in a similar 
state of uncertainty. The original concession of the native chiefs to 
the Maryland Colonization Society for the territory named by that 
society, “ Maryland in Liberia,” purported to extend to the San 
Pedro River. In 1885 the French settlers on the French Ivory coast* 
undertook, through some arrangement with the natives, to control 
territory west of the San Pedro. At the instance of the Liberian 
Government Mr. Bayard, then Secretary of State, addressed the 
Government of France. Mr. Bayard then said: 

We exercise no protectorate over Liberia, but the circumstance that the 
Republic originated through the colonization of American citizens, and was 
established under the fostering sanction of this Government, gives us the right, 
as the next friend of Liberia, to aid her in preventing any encroachment of 
foreign powers. 

No very satisfactory result having attended this action, Mr. Bayard 
again, in 1887, reverted to the French aggressions on the territory of 
Liberia between the CavalLy and San Pedro rivers and recited very 
fully the various deeds of cession by which the lands as far south as 
the San Pedro River were purchased from the natives by the Mary- 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


9 


land State Colonization Society at various dates between 1834 and 
1846. The controversy dragged along until 1892, when in January 
the French ambassador, in justification of the claim of France to the 
territories in dispute, submitted treaties with native tribes dated in 
1890 and 1891. 

In Mr. Blaine’s dispatch to Minister Coolidge, June 4, 1892, the 
interest of the United States in the fortunes of Liberia and our 
jealous concern that full respect should be paid to the independent 
and sovereign people of that Republic in the family of nations, was 
emphatically shown. 

It is worthy of note that at the time of the African slave-trade con¬ 
ference of Brussels in June, 1890, the United States made an explicit 
declaration of the relation of the Republic of Liberia to the United 
States, and demanded that Liberia should be invited, as a sovereign 
power, to adhere to the treaty. This demand was warmly supported 
in the conference, and promptly acquiesced in. Baron Lambermont, 
president of the conference, eloquently stated the circumstances which 
led not only the United States but all those interested in African 
progress, to attach great importance to the cooperation of Liberia 
for the realization of the objects of the conference. Baron Lamber¬ 
mont said: 

All the world knows the history of the Republic of Liberia. Founded with 
the object of affording a home to certain freed American slaves desiring to 
return to the mother country, it was destined at the same time to fulfill a 
civilizing mission upon the Guinea coast. This creation has produced happy 
results. It began, it is true, under great difficulties, but this often happens in 
the early life of new States. This young Republic none the less deserves the 
sympathies of all those who are interested in the cause of humanity in Africa. 
It is an independent and free State. Moreover, the conference has every reason 
in associating it with its work, not only because of the mission Liberia is 
called upon to fulfill, but also because it is also in a position to lend indis¬ 
pensable assistance toward the execution of several of the clauses of the general 
act. 

The British delegate welcomed Baron Lambermont’s declaration, 
adding that the place of Liberia had been fixed among the independ¬ 
ent States which had been invited to adhere to the general act. 

Mr. Blaine made a strong point of Liberia’s claim to unquestioning 
respect for its own vested rights through the acquisition of title to 
the disputed territory long prior to the adverse title claimed by 
France. Before the discussion of this aspect of the question with the 
French Government was fairly under way, Baron von Stein, minister 
resident of the Liberian Republic in Belgium, who was appointed as 
the commissioner to negotiate with France, hastily concluded a treaty 
by which a large part of Maryland County was relinquished. The 
treaty was signed December 8, 1892. It provided that the boundary 
was to-follow the middle of the Cavally River for 20 miles from its 
mouth and run thereafter by rivers and along meridians in such 
manner as to give to France the entire basin of the Niger and its 
affluents. 

This description, however, was vague. The rivers mentioned have 
not been identified and the effect of the settlement—for which it is to 
be noted the Liberian Government received the munificent sum of 
25,000 francs for indemnity—was to leave the whole Franco-Liberian 
boundary in a state of absolute uncertainty. Hence the more recent 
dispute with France which was settled in 1907 by Liberia’s accept- 


10 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


ance, for peace’ sake, of a definite and charted inland boundary which 
gave to France nearly all that was in dispute. 

It is from this condition of the interior boundaries of Liberia that 
her present troubles and embarrassments are largely due. The hin¬ 
terland of Liberia is practically an unknown region. It is unsettled 
except for the native tribes, mostly evil disposed toward Liberia, 
and by occasional French or British stragglers. Administrative and 
police protection in those regions is practically beyond the power of 
the Government at Monrovia, while, on the other hand, Great Britain 
and France are alike insistent upon holding Liberia responsible for 
the safety of their nationals. 

In view of these conditions Great Britain constrained Liberia to 
conclude an arrangement by which the frontier police of Liberia 
should be officered by British subjects; on the other hand, France 
claims the right to establish posts for the protection of the French 
settlers in Liberian territory when the local power is insufficient. 

Of course a boundary of indefinite character thus overpassed 
becomes no boundary, and the claim of the other party elastically 
moves inward to keep pace with its stragglers. 

The report of the Liberian Commission, herewith submitted, goes 
very fully into the present questions with Great Britain. 

Naturally the importance of this phase of the Liberian situation 
has led the commissioners to give it the leading place in their report, 
and to base upon it the first of their recommendations, namely, that 
the United States extend its aid to Liberia in the prompt settlement 
of pending boundary disputes. It is the conclusion of the commis¬ 
sion that Liberia alone is helpless to obtain a definitive fixation of 
her boundaries, and that while in the past her negotiations have not 
been unskillful, she has at every turn been forced to yield to each 
new aggression. The commission believe that a form of action can 
be found which is consonant with diplomatic usage and which will 
enable the United States to appear as attorney or next friend of 
Liberia and bring to the negotiations of Liberia the ability and 
prestige of the United States. 

This is a position which the United States has long assumed, and, 
as Mr. Bayard said, the circumstance of the origin of the Liberian 
Republic gives the United States the right as the “ next friend of 
Liberia to aid her in preventing any enchoachment of foreign powers 
upon her territorial sovereignty and in settling any dispute that may 
arise.” 

It is, however, to be remarked that in the past the assumption 
by the United States of the position of next friend has been unavail¬ 
ing, and the remontrances of this Government have generally been 
met by an intimation that the dispute has been settled directly with 
Liberia. Something more is needed if the United States is to dis¬ 
charge any adequate function of advocacy and counsel for Liberia— 
such, for instance, as a treaty engagement whereby Liberia delegates 
and the United States assumes the function of attorney in fact for 
Liberia in matters of international controversy. There are many 
precedents for the delegation by a sovereign State of its international 
representation to the diplomatic machinery of another State. 

The report of the commission deals extensively with the question 
of the financial situation of Liberia. The debt, both domestic and 
foreign, is analyzed. It has been for the most part incurred under 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA, 


11 


disadvantageous circumstances, and yet, considering the limited re¬ 
sources and impoverished condition of the national exchequer of 
Liberia, the total sum, internal and external, is comparatively small— 
less than one and a half million dollars in all. The recommendation 
of the commission looks to the establishment of some system of collec¬ 
tion and control of the revenues of the country for the benefit alike of 
the Government and the creditors, modeled in some respect upon the 
plan which has been of such practical success in Santo Domingo, and 
that as a part of this plan the existing debt be refunded. 

The further recommendation is made that the agencies intrusted 
with this financial control should also take part in the reform of the 
internal finances of the Republic. 

Both of these suggestions are eminently practical. 

The fourth recommendation is that the United States lend its aid 
to Liberia in organizing and drilling an adequate constabulary or 
frontier police force. 

The importance of this recommendation can hardly be overesti¬ 
mated. It is a vital concomitant of any effective settlement of the 
boundary questions with Liberia’s powerful neighbors to the north 
and east. As already said, the vague and uncertain character of the 
boundary, in itself a sufficiently grave evil, is made worse by the 
virtual inability of Liberia to police any boundary whatever. It is 
significant that the settlement with Great Britain was founded in 
great part on the obligation of Liberia to maintain a frontier police 
under British officers. The engagement with Franee was less specific, 
but here again it is significant that France claims the right to over¬ 
step her boundaries, such as they are, and supply the lack of Liberian 
police. The process in the case of an indefinite boundary is synono- 
mous with the foundation of a claim for more territory. Without 
the creation of adequate police force in the interior the establish¬ 
ment of a hard and fast boundary line through the unsettled wilds 
would be a misfortune rather than an advantage for Liberia, for it 
would entail upon the Republic responsibilities of protection on the 
hither side of the line which might not be so effectively urged if the 
real frontier and the real jurisdiction of the locality were uncertain. 

The fifth recommendation of the commission is that the United 
States establish and maintain a research station in Liberia to aid in 
the development of the agricultural and natural wealth of the coun¬ 
try, and to inaugurate the improvements in the line of hygiene and 
sanitation, so necessary in a tropical and insalubrious climate, and 
which the experience gained in Cuba, Panama, and the Philippines 
especially qualifies the United States to devise and execute. 

The sixth and last recommendation is that the United States estab¬ 
lish a naval coaling station in Liberia. 

The advantage and, indeed, the necessity of doing this, if the 
United States is to undertake the friendly offices outlined in the other 
recommendations, is obvious. 

The report of the commission and its recommendations have re¬ 
ceived most attentive study on the part of the Department of State 
and the conclusion is reached that action in the suggested lines is not 
only expedient but in the nature of a duty to a community which owes 
its existence to the United States and is the nation’s ward. 


12 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


It is the purpose of the department, if the President approve and 
so direct, to lay before the Liberian Government a project of a treaty 
designed to accomplish these objects. 

The United States minister, Mr. Ernest Lyon, is now on his way 
to Monrovia on the cruiser Birmingham , and he is directed to sound 
the Liberian Government as to the general provisions of a treaty 
adequate to accomplish the ends in view. 

With these explanatory observations, the report of the Liberian 
Commission is transmitted to the President with the recommendation 
that it be laid before the Congress and urgent attention invited 
thereto. 

Respectfully submitted. 

P. C. Knox. 


Department of State, 

Washington , March 22, 1910. 


Report of the Commission of the United States of America to 
the Republic of Liberia. 

Washington, D. C., October 6, 1909. 

Sir : The commission of the United States appointed “ to investi¬ 
gate the interests of the United States and its citizens in the Republic 
of Liberia ” in pursuance of the act of March 4, 1909, has the honor 
to present herewith its report. 

In accordance with the arrangements made by your department, 
the commission sailed for Liberia on April 24, 1909, arriving in 
Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, on May 8, and spending thirty days 
in Liberia and Sierra Leone, in exact compliance with the programme 
of the department. While the general purpose of the commission 
was described generally in the appropriation act as above quoted, its 
specific duties were more particularly set forth in your letter of 
instructions. Owing to the limited time at the disposal of the com¬ 
mission, it was necessary to confine its inquiries almost exclusively 
to the matters specifically mentioned in these instructions. 

By a division of the work among the several commissioners, the 
special matters called to its attention were investigated as thoroughly 
as time would permit. It has been our effort to confine the report 
to a concise statement of the conclusions and recommendations of 
the commission. 

In presenting its conclusions, the commission finds itself under the 
necessity of reviewing the acts and to some extent the policies of other 
governments and of alluding to certain 'facts and circumstances 
which may seem to place in unfavorable light the course of action 
of friendly powers. This is not done with any desire to pass judg¬ 
ment upon those acts, but only that the facts may speak for them¬ 
selves. To the best of its ability, the commission has endeavored to 
maintain an impartial attitude. The commission is also fully aware 
that if its recommendations be carried out, their effect will be to sub¬ 
stitute the United States for Great Britain as the friendly counselor 
and adviser of Liberia. This arises from no desire to displace Great 
Britain, but it is a frank recognition that under present circum¬ 
stances, as will appear more specifically hereafter, Great Britain 



AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


IS 

can not effectively maintain this role. That power has so frequently 
expressed its desire that Liberia may grow strong and prosperous, has 
so often offered its friendly aid to that end, that she must be assumed 
to be more interested in the end to be attained than in the means of 
accomplishing it, and that she could hardly interpose an objection 
if others propose to do what in the present juncture of affairs she 
can not do herself. 

The duty of the commission was to investigate the actual condi¬ 
tions in Liberia and the causes of its present difficulties, with a view 
of determining whether the Liberians could extricate themselves 
from them, either by their own efforts or with a reasonable amount 
of friendly assistance by the United States. 

THE LIBERIAN PEOPLE. 

The commission was impressed with the dignity and intelligence 
of the representatives of the Government with whom it had dealings. 
Though these were relatively few in number, they represented the 
best of Liberia’s citizenship, and the fact that the best men find their 
way into public employment is itself a favorable circumstance. 

The Liberians are not a revolutionary people. Since the beginning 
of their national life they have maintained the forms of orderly 
government. In sixty-two years they have had thirteen Presidents, 
most of whom have been reelected for one or more terms of two years 
each, and when changes of administration have been sought they 
have been sought by constitutional means. While under stress of 
public opinion, one or more Presidents have resigned their office, 
impeachment has been resorted to but once, and revolution not at all. 

Despite frequent assertions to the contrary, Liberia is not bank¬ 
rupt. Much that is crude was discovered in the administration of 
the fiscal affairs of the Republic. The Government is embarrassed 
by its indebtedness and the burdens which it entails. But the na¬ 
tional debt of less than $1,300,000 is not excessive, even if we com¬ 
pared it with the present revenues. In contrast to the natural wealth 
of the country, it is very small. The improvement in revenues which 
followed the introduction of a systematic collection of customs under 
the administration of British officials encourages the belief that with 
the further development of the country and introduction of better 
business methods in its financial administration the burden of the 
debt may be considerably lightened and national credit strengthened. 

Liberia is not a failure in self-government. It is true that the 
effective government of the country extends only to the coast towns 
and settlements along the rivers St. Paul and St. John, but in these 
towns and settlements law and order prevail, life and property are 
adequately protected, and crime is promptly punished. Peace, good 
will, and friendly feeling prevail between these towns and settlements 
and the native villages immediately adjacent to them. 

However crude in many respects the civilization of Liberia may 
be, the Liberians have advanced, not retrograded, in their civiliza¬ 
tion. In estimating the progress of the Liberian people it is well 
to bear in mind their origin. The original elements of the popula¬ 
tion of Liberia were three: Free negroes sent out by the colonization 
society; Africans rescued from slave traders by the United States 
war vessels during the period of the suppression of the slave trade; 


14 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


freedmen who emigrated to Liberia since the war. Out of these 
materials, guided by the traditions of life in America, the Liberian 
people have developed a civilization that compares not unfavorably 
with the better element of the negroes in the United States. It was 
the conviction of the commission and their associates that the Li¬ 
berians had influenced the native population by which they were 
surrounded far more than the natives had influenced them. In the 
presence of that great mass of uncivilized people they have maintained 
a relatively high degree of civilization, of which the well-ordered 
home, the maintenance of law and order, the quiet Sunday rest, and 
the well-attended houses of worship are conspicuous signs. 

It is the larger and more difficult tasks of government which now 
confront Liberia, chiefly as a result of the partition of Africa by 
European powers during recent years, which Liberia finds too hard 
for her. They grow out of the increasing importance of her rela¬ 
tions with neighboring countries and the urgent necessity of more 
effective control and government of the native tribes within her 
boundaries. It is with reference to these tasks and problems growing 
out of them that Liberia feels the need of help from a strong power. 

Specifically these problems are: 

1. The maintenance of the integrity of her frontiers in the face 
of attempted aggressions of her neighbors against whose might she 
can oppose only the justice of her claims. 

2. The effective control of the native tribes, especially along the 
frontiers, so as to leave no excuse for the occupation of her territory 
by her neighbors. 

3. The systemization of the national finances so as to render cer¬ 
tain the meeting of all foreign obligations and to establish the 
national credit on a firm basis. 

4. The development of the hinterland in such a way as to increase 
the volume of trade and thus supply the resources necessary for the 
increasing wants of a progressive government and at the same time 
enable the government to offer inducements to desirable emigration 
from the United States. 

Because Liberia has thus far failed in solving these problems satis¬ 
factorily she has found herself involved in controversies with foreign 
nations. These have created an unrest which hampers her internal 
development and have made her feel that her national existence is 
threatened by powerful neighbors without and by weakness within. 

BOUNDARIES WITH FRANCE. 

To the north and east Liberia has France as her neighbor. In 
pursuit of their policy of building up a great West African Empire 
the French have been a thorn in the side of Liberia. They have been 
consistent and persistent in their efforts to increase their boundaries. 
By successive treaties with Liberia they have deprived that country 
of territories long claimed by her. France has based its aggressions 
on the plea that the territory which she had annexed, and then had 
ceded to her by treaty, was not effectively occupied by the Liberians 
and was therefore subject to acquisition by another power. This 
in particular was the justification urged in the long dispute which 
culminated in the treaty of 1892, whereby Liberia lost to France a 
strip of 60 miles of coast and extensive territories in the interior. 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


15 


The vagueness of this treaty with respect to the interior boundaries 
furnished the basis of claims which enabled France to make further 
encroachments upon territory previously assigned to Liberia and by 
a further treaty of 1907 to force Liberia to yet further cessions of 
territory estimated at 2,000 square miles, not indeed then occupied 
by Liberia any more than by France, but forming a valuable asset 
for the future development of the Republic. This treaty reflected 
in its terms the general uncertainty which prevails as to African 
geography, and required the settlement by a mixed commission of a 
definite boundary line in accordance with the general principles laid 
down in .the treaty itself. By the work of this commission, so far 
as it has been made public, it would appear that France is preparing 
new aggressions upon Liberian territory. Much as the Liberians 
may lament the losses which were forced upon them by the treaties of 
1892 and 1907, they have formally consented to them and the contro¬ 
versies are closed. The findings of the delimitation commission have 
not as yet been made public and this question is therefore pending. 

Uncertainty as to the exact boundaries is not the only source of 
irritation which the treaty of 1907 embodies. That treaty provides 
that to exercise an effective police force along the frontier the 
Liberian Government shall assume the obligation of establishing a 
certain number of posts, but if the Liberian Government fails to do 
so the French shall be permitted to garrison these posts in Liberian 
territory. It may be that specific provisions for the maintenance of 
order were necessary, but the form chosen looks like a deliberate 
attempt to provide a pretext for future occupation of the territory 
assigned by the treaty and delimitation to Liberia. Though the 
occupation contemplated by the treaty is temporary, the lessons of 
history, and particularly those of Liberian history, show that when 
a foreign power has a footing within one’s boundaries it is rather 
difficult to dislodge it. 

BOUNDARIES WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

On the west Liberia adjoins the British colony of Sierra Leone. 
Even while Liberia was still a colony under the governors appointed 
by the colonization society she had trouble with Sierra Leone. 
British traders contended that Liberia had no right to impose 
customs duties, and refused to recognize her authority in this regard. 
The question thus raised was one of the main considerations which 
led to the formation of the republic. 

Since Liberia has been an independent nation it has at several 
junctures been forced to make concessions to the ambitious designs 
of her neighbor. It is enough to recall the long dispute respecting 
the west boundary of Liberia, which was finally settled by the treaty 
of 1885, negotiated in its final stage at the cannon’s mouth, whereby 
Liberia lost to Sierra Leone a considerable coast line to which she 
had an equitable claim. 

More recently events have occurred in the northwest corner of 
Liberia in the native town and district of Kanre Lahun which have 
brought Liberia into an irritating controversy with Great Britain. 
The history of the case is somewhat involved. Briefly, the town was 
in the occupation of British command when the delimitation com¬ 
mission of 1903 discovered that it was located within Liberian ter- 



16 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


ritory. Before it was known that this region was Liberian, the 
British had entered into a treaty of protection with the native chief 
of that district. In 1904 a native war broke out in this district, and 
it was alleged that raids were made into British territory. Through 
the consul-general of Great Britain in Monrovia, permission was 
granted British authorities to enter Liberian territory for the pur¬ 
pose of quelling this disturbance. Though the evidence shows that 
the hostile chief was driven out of his country some six or eight 
months later, the British have made no motion to retire from this 
Liberian territory. The}^ have not denied Liberian sovereignty, 
but have recently declined to allow the Liberians to exercise it. 
Though they permitted Liberia to send a customs official and district 
commissioner into this region in 1906, in September, 1908, they 
refused to permit the Liberian official to discharge the duties of a 
district commissioner, and a month later ordered that the customs 
establishment be removed. Their plea is that the exercise of civil 
authority by Liberian officials is incompatible with the military 
occupation, a position which is undoubtedly well taken but which 
does not demonstrate either the necessity for or the justification of 
the said occupation. To suggestions that the British relinquish this 
territory to its rightful owmers, evasive answers have been given, 
though they have sometimes been met by the suggestion that the 
British forces can not retire until Liberia pays the entire cost to 
Sierra Leone of the occupation of this territory in recent years. 

The questions at issue thus stated seem to be amazingly simple. 
It should, however, be remarked that one of the difficulties which has 
prevented Liberia from securing a settlement of the question has been 
the unwillingness of Great Britain to take it up independently of 
the British programme of internal reforms, the Manna River and 
other claims. Inasmuch as Liberia has felt it is under some obliga¬ 
tions to Great Britain in these other matters, it has not been in a 
position to press vigorously for a solution of this boundary question. 

The British foreign office has protested that Great Britain has no 
designs on Liberian territory. We find it hard to reconcile this prot¬ 
estation with the acts and attitude of her officials in Sierra Leone 
and Liberia. Certainly there is no difficulty in understanding Great'' 
Britain’s declaration that if France is permitted to make successful 
advances into Liberian territory she will be compelled in her own 
interests to claim her share. 

It makes little difference whether Great Britain is the upper or the 
nether millstone. Liberia is between the two, and it is the convic¬ 
tion of the commission that unless she has the support of some power 
commensurate in strength with Great Britain or France, she will as 
an independent power speedily disappear from the map. 

FRONTIER POLICE. 

The problem of government in Africans to a large extent bound 
up with the control of the native tribes. These must be held in sub- [ 
jection in order that the peaceful development of the colony be not 3 
disturbed. Warfare between the various petty tribes must be sup- 3 
pressed in order that the savage may become wonted to the wavs of', 
peace. 



AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


17 


International boundaries must be respected and the maintenance 
of peace and order on the frontier is of the highest importance to 
avoid international conflicts. While these natives are for all practi¬ 
cal purposes a subject race, they are, in international law, citizens of 
the country which they inhabit, and if they carry their tribal wars 
across international boundaries we have in effect the spectacle of 
citizens of Liberia in arms against the citizens of a neighboring 
country. It is highly necessary, therefore, to avoid such complica¬ 
tions between the citizens of sister states. 

In the various west African territories these purposes are accom¬ 
plished largely through organizations known as frontier police. 
These organizations are composed of natives under European officers. 
The force is military in character, and performs duties similar to 
those intrusted, for instance, to the Philippine Constabulary, with 
which they have certain obvious analogies. 

It is not alone the treaty obligations of 1907 which impose upon 
Liberia the maintenance of such an organization. Her own needs 
are the same as those of other West African commonwealths in which 
such a force has proved to be indispensable to the proper mainte¬ 
nance not only of peace, but of government authority over the native 
tribes. It would be unwise for Liberia to undertake these tasks* 
which the situation imposes, by untried methods, and it is natural 
that in planning such a force she should follow models set by her 
neighbors. From this point of view a strict military organization 
is an essential requisite of such a force, but Liberia and its citizens 
lack the experience in military affairs which would fit them properly 
to organize the force on such a basis. None recognize this more fully 
than the Liberians themselves. They are fully aware that if this 
force has to be an effective military unit, it must be organized, drilled* 
and commanded, at least for the time being, by men trained in the 
armies of modern states. 

In view of the obligations assumed by the treaty of 1907, and in 
view moreover of certain urgent representations from the British 
foreign office, the Liberians undertook in the year 1908 to organize a 
frontier police force and called in the aid of British officers. The officer 
chosen to command the force, Capt. R. Mackay Cadell, an English 
militia officer, had seen service in South Africa. He was selected for 
this purpose largely through the instrumentality of Capt. Braithwaite 
Wallis, His Majesty’s consul-general in Monrovia. Cadell was given 
the rank of major in the Liberian army and was given free hand to 
organize and equip the force subject only to a relatively slight super¬ 
vision by the President of Liberia. He was assisted by two other 
British officers of the rank of captain. Headquarters for the force 
were selected about 2 miles from Monrovia, ground was cleared, and 
adequate space for the exercise of troops secured. Permanent head¬ 
quarters for the officers, stores, etc.* were erected, and a number of 
native huts for the accommodation of the troops were put up. In 
the late summer of 1908 enlistment and military training began. 
Considerable work was done in this direction, and when Major Cadell 
finally retired from the command of the force it was a very present¬ 
able body of men, showing the beneficial effects of a strict military 
training. 

S. Doc. 457-60-1-2 


18 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


But if Major Caclell got on very well with his troops he got on 
very badly with the Liberian people and the Liberian Government. 
He was a man of indomitable energy, but guileless of tact. Ins 
actions on various occasions affronted the Liberian officials. 
Through indifference to the law or by design he enlisted a consider¬ 
able number of British subjects among the troops, about one-fourth 
of his men being natives of Sierra Leone. When called to account 
for it he at first denied and afterwards admitted that some of the 
men might have been born in Sierra Leone, but that he supposed them 
to be residents of Liberia and therefore Liberians. Being called 
upon to dismiss the British subjects he neglected to do so. About 
the beginning of the present year he began to complain that his men 
were not paid and sought further supplies from the Government, 
though he was very dilatory in presenting accounts for the moneys 
already intrusted to him. The dissatisfaction with Major Cadell’s 
conduct in matters at the camp led to the passage of a law by the 
Liberian legislature in January, 1909, reorganizing the force and 
dismissing its commander. The President, who had upheld Major 
Cadell, offered him an opportunity to resign, but on one pretext or 
another he delayed doing so, and when he sent in his resignation the 
Government could not accept it until his accounts had been adjusted. 
He remained in the meantime in charge of the command, and on 
February 11, 1909, wrote a threatening letter to the President, in 
which he stated that if the demands of the troops for payment of 
money due them were not met with within twenty-four hours, he 
could not be responsible for the maintenance of peace or for the safety 
of the President. This remarkable letter naturally created much 
excitement in Monrovia, but the situation was handled with extreme 
adroitness by the Liberian Government, which demanded that Major 
Cadell withdraw the British subjects composing his force and that he 
turn over the camp to the Liberian authorities, who would deal with 
the Liberian subjects. This order Cadell reluctantly obeyed on the 
recommendation of the British consul-general, and it Avas then discov¬ 
ered that 71 of the enlisted men were British subjects. Two or three 
weeks afterwards,'after settling up his accounts, whereby it was re¬ 
vealed that he had involved the Government in a considerable un¬ 
authorized debt, he sailed for England and was soon followed by his 
brother officers. 

It is in its effects upon the Liberian people that the really serious 
aspect of this affair is to be found. 

There is a widespread belief among them that this was part of a 
plot on the part of British subjects in Liberia to make it appear that 
the Government was tottering to its fall and bring about the British 
occupation of Monrovia. There is in consequence a deep distrust of 
Great Britain and an intense anti-British feeling finding more or 
less guarded expression among all classes of people. The culminat- 
ipg events which gave rise to the intense feeling against anything 
British, as seen through Liberian eyes, appear to have been as follows: 

On February 4 the British in Monrovia cabled to the foreign office 
that the lives of foreign residents in Monrovia were in danger and 
urged that a gunboat be sent for their protection. (The commission 
was informed by the representative of a foreign government who 
was present in Monrovia throughout all these troubles that the lives 
of foreigners “were never for one moment in danger.”) On 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


19 


February 10 the British gunboat Mutin appeared and anchored off 
Monrovia. It was afterwards learned that a British regiment in 
Sierra Leone was under orders to proceed to Monrovia. On Feb¬ 
ruary 11 and 12 Cadell precipitated the rupture with the Government. 
But for the prompt and judicious action of the Liberian Executive, 
aided by the American minister resident, the folloAving would pres¬ 
ently have been the situation: A British gunboat in the harbor, a 
British officer in command of the frontier force and a large number 
of British subjects among the enlisted men, a British official in charge 
of the Liberian customs, a British officer in command of the Liberian 
gunboat Lark, a British regiment in the streets of Monrovia. 

It is most unfortunate that the commission has been unable to 
secure an account of these events from the principal British actors 
in them. When we reached Monrovia Major Cadell had left Liberia. 
The British consul-general was away on leave of absence. We were 
the more disappointed in not meeting the latter, as before our de¬ 
parture we had been shown in the State Department at Washington 
a dispatch from the ambassador in London stating that the British 
foreign office had instructed its representative in Monrovia to give the 
American commission the fullest information about Liberian affairs. 
The acting consul-general had no personal knowledge of the facts, and 
covered his obvious embarrassment when asked to explain some of 
them by the plea that he had no inside information. Later the 
governor of Sierra Leone, while giving very full particulars in respect 
to the Kanre-Lahun matter, expressly disclaimed any knowledge of 
Liberian affairs. The commission was therefore confined for its 
information to official correspondence and the statements of Liberians 
and foreign residents of Monrovia. 

It is unnecessary to insist, in view of the foregoing facts, that the 
employment of British officers is now out of the question. There is, 
in addition, an inherent difficulty in the employment of British offi¬ 
cers in the Liberian frontier force. Even if Major Cadell had acted 
with entire judgment and good faith, it is doubtful if the arrange¬ 
ment could have succeeded. France, through her representative in 
Monrovia, entered energetic protest against the exclusive employment 
of British officers in this force and demanded that French officers be 
employed in equal number. Her representative characterized 
Cadell's force as a u British army of occupation.” Moreover, in dis¬ 
putes as to British rights on the frontier, the impartiality of British 
officers would be under severe strain and always open to suspicion. 

There is even greater objection to the employment of French 
officers in this force. France has not evinced toward Liberia any of 
the friendly feeling shown by Great Britain. Moreover, not only 
the obligations of the treaty but the more extensive boundary line 
with France impose upon this force as its main duty the control of 
the French frontier. It would be unreasonable to expect disinter¬ 
ested service from French officers if their duties to Liberia should 
conflict, as they would be likely to do, with the interests of their own 
country. 

The opinions of our military associates were to the effect that the 
force at present existing shows a commendable degree of order, dis¬ 
cipline, and soldierly qualities, but that it was in danger of rapidly 
disintegrating unless put under the command of competent military 
officers. From a political point of view, it is equally obvious that 


20 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


such officers should be citizens of a nation which has no territorial 
interests likely to conflict with those of Liberia. 

FOREIGN LOANS. 

Twice in her history Liberia has contracted loans in England. In 
both cases she has received a most inadequate return for the obliga¬ 
tions which were assumed. For a long time there was a practical 
refusal on the pUrt of Liberia to recognize the validity of the loan 
of 1871, but after a long series # of negotiations a compromise was 
effected in 1898 with the council of foreign bondholders. This agree¬ 
ment has been faithfully fulfilled. When, in 1906, Liberia contracted 
a further loan in Great Britain, she agreed to place the control of 
the customs in the hands of British officials as security for the loan. 
This control, which was duly established in accordance with the 
agreement, has been highly effective and has given rise to but little 
irritation. It has been distasteful to the Liberians only to the extent 
to which it has been used in certain quarters to bolster up an inter¬ 
ference on Great Britain’s part in affairs purely internal. It may 
be mentioned that the loan agreement and the act of the legislature 
ratifying it gives to the chief inspector of customs the additional 
title of financial adviser, though it describes his duties as being ex- 
clusivery in connection with the collection of customs and with the 
organization of that feature of the Government finances. The at¬ 
tempt on the part of the British consul-general to make it appear that 
wider functions were designed for this officer is, so far as the com¬ 
mission is aware, the only cause of any dissatisfaction with his con¬ 
trol of customs matters. 

The control of customs which has thus been established guarantees 
only a portion of the foreign debt, namely, that of 1906; it has no 
relation to the loan of 1871. It would be to the interest of the 
investor to place both of these loans on the same basis. An arrange¬ 
ment which might be contemplated for the adjustment of the debt 
should make such provision. 

Though Liberia has little to show for the debts incurred, she has, 
since 1898, faithfully met the obligations rising from them. Interest 
and sinking-fund charges have up to date been duly paid. There 
have at times been some complaints of delay, but this delay, has not 
been serious. Yet the fact that there are occasional delays, and the 
fact that these loans were negotiated in Great Britain, has given to 
the representatives of that power in Monrovia the feeling that the 
Liberians were under special obligations to Great Britain. The 
Liberians themselves have felt that such an obligation existed and 
that they were not in a position to insist too vigorously upon what 
they deemed to be their just rights in other matters of controversy. 

INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION. 

In the internal administration of the Republic the sorest point is 
the finances. It is true that the income from customs is now sys¬ 
tematically collected, and that some increase of revenue from this 
source has resulted from a well-ordered management. From a merely 
business point of view the employment of foreign officials to organize 
and administer this branch of the government service has been a 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


21 


profitable investment. Increased costs have, of course, followed a 
more systematic organization, but there can be little doubt that this 
has been considerably more than offset by the increase of revenues, 
ensuing from a more efficient collection of the customs. 

The revenue from internal sources is pitiably small. Crude and 
casual methods of collection prevail, and it seems more than probable 
that an intelligent organization of this service would be fruitful in 
more abundant revenue. The present administration has undertaken, 
with considerable success, the task of giving to the native tribes more 
and better government, asserting more freely than has been done 
heretofore in the interior the Liberian sovereignty. This great—and, 
if properly carried out, expensive—task has thus far been made a 
charge upon the general revenues, without any attempt to make the 
natives contribute to its cost. In the other countries of West Africa 
this service is largely maintained from the product of taxes levied in 
the regions governed. Eventually Liberia must evolve such sources 
of revenue if it is to perform adequately its duty to the native tribes. 
One condition of securing such revenue will be the ability to convince 
the natives that substantial benefits come to them from government 
control. 

The aggregate revenues of the country are barely sufficient for its 
urgent governmental needs with the strictest economy in public 
expenditure. There is a steady pull on the government treasury, and 
no elasticity. There in neither a reserve balance in the treasury nor 
are there any sources of income capable of expansion to meet govern¬ 
ment emergencies. An empty treasury is so frequent as to be almost 
the rule. This situation makes it difficult to meet extraordinary 
expenditure. Not infrequently such expenditure has grown out of 
international relations, claims of foreign powers, the expenses of 
boundary commissions, and the like, and where they occur there have 
been inevitable delays in payment, which have made more acute the 
problems of foreign intercourse. 

The urgent need for current expenditure, lack of skill in estimating 
receipts, and indifference as to the outcome have brought it about 
that for many years the appropriations and expenditure as well, so 
far as it has been possible to contract debt, have exceeded the revenue. 

The lack of equilibrium in the budget has been aggravated by the 
crudest sort of treasury management. There is no adequate check 
upon public expenditure. Appropriations have frequently been ex¬ 
ceeded and other unauthorized expenditure has been made. Devices 
for guaranteeing that the public expenditure is properly made are 
lacking. There is no check on fraud or dishonesty in the purchase of 
supplies for government use. 

The result of all this has been to involve the country in a consider¬ 
able floating debt. In former days its checks and drafts upon sub¬ 
treasuries were issued freely for government service irrespective of 
the amounts available to pay such instruments. Unpaid checks and 
drafts accumulated in the hands of merchants who paid them to the 
Government in lieu of currency for customs duties, thereby reducing 
actual receipts considerably below nominal amounts. Salaries of 
officials, a large item in the annual expenditures, are due quarterly 
and were formerly paid by check for the full amount without any 
consideration as-to whether the recipient could get his check cashed. 
At the present time in making salary payments the state of the 


22 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


treasury is taken into consideration and checks are only issued which 
can'be paid, each claimant receiving a portion of the amount due 
him. A semblance of equity is thus maintained, but for the later 
payment of the balances due there seems to be no similar provision. 
The secretary of the treasury pays such balances and other obliga¬ 
tions of the Government when he can. The fact renders him a per¬ 
sonage of extreme importance. He can hasten or delay the payment 
of a government creditor, and thus reward friends and punish 
enemies. 

In addition to her foreign loans Liberia has a domestic debt 
equivalent to about one year’s revenue of the Republic. Much of it 
has been long outstanding, though some is of recent origin. It is 
represented by claims of various kinds documented by the most 
diverse evidence. The task of bringing order into this confusion 
is no inconsiderable one. It must, however, be undertaken if the 
finances of the country are to be placed upon a solid foundation. 

The existence of this floating debt, the delays in making payments, 
and the lack of confidence of the people in the government finances 
impair the national credit. It makes foreign bondholders suspicious 
of the value of their securities. It disposes them to look to their 
own governments for a protection of their interests in Liberia. On 
the other hand, it discourages the investment of foreign capital in 
Liberian enterprises. The invitations which the Government had 
from time to time extended to foreigners to invest in transportation 
enterprises, banks, and the like, have fallen upon unheeding ears. 
Lacking the capital to develop its own resources, Liberia must look 
to foreign investments, and experience has amply shown that foreign 
capital is very coy about entering a country whose national finances 
are in a disorganized condition. Not only to remove any pretext for 
the interference of foreign powers to secure the fulfillment of inter¬ 
national money obligations, but also to furnish a basis for the further 
development of the country, Liberia should heed the counsel of her 
friends to put her house in order.® 

The postal service of the Republic is limited in its area, irregular in 
its service, and primitive in its methods. It is established only 
between the several coast towns and with foreign countries. Its 
receipts and expenditures are inadequately checked and they are 
kept separate from those of the treasury department receipts, being 
used to meet expenditures, and the treasury being called upon to 
furnish funds to meet the deficit. Though its methods are crude, 
they are not expensive, and in the present condition of the Liberian 
revenues the commission finds it impracticable to recommend any 
measures of assistance on the part of the United States. 


®The public debt of Liberia is as follows: 

Foreign: 

Loan of 1871, 4^ per cent, principal and unpaid interest_ $443,025.60 

Loan of 1906, 5 per cent, principal_ 464,640.00 

Domestic: 

Funded at 3 per cent, principal and unpaid interest_ 113,206.95 

Funded at 6 i>er cent, principal and unpaid interest_ 30.000.00 

Unfunded, noninterest bearing_ 238, 698. 05 


1,289, 570. 60 







AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


23 


The judiciary of Liberia is composed of well-meaning men of gen¬ 
eral good character, but without special training in the law. In the 
supreme court two of the three justices are lawyers, but among the 
judges of the inferior courts the legal profession is not represented. 
The courts endeavor as well as may be to administer the principles 
of the common law and the statutes of Liberia. Dissatisfaction with 
the courts is general and has received forcible mention in the messages 
of the President to the legislature. According to all the evidence 
which the commission could obtain, this dissatisfaction has its origin 
in the incompetenc t y rather than the corruption of the judges. Plans 
are under consideration by the administration which would, it is be¬ 
lieved, strengthen the judiciary system, but as they involve a reduc¬ 
tion in the number of judges they have not yet secured popular ap¬ 
proval. The dissatisfaction of unsuccessful litigants had led a num¬ 
ber of British subjects to lodge complaints against the courts with 
the British consul-general. Apparently, without thorough investiga¬ 
tion on the part of that official, these complaints have been forwarded 
to London, and the impression has been created in British official 
circles that the courts of Liberia do not afford substantial protection 
of foreigners in the pursuit of their legitimate business. The com¬ 
mission was at great pains to examine this matter as thoroughly as 
possible, and it reached the conclusion that the complaints were 
groundless; that while foreign subjects might suffer as did the Libe¬ 
rians from the ignorance of judges, there was no evidence of an ani¬ 
mus against foreigners which found expression in treatment different 
from that accorded to citizens. The commission was unable to dis¬ 
cover any way in which the United States could be of aid to Liberia 
in this department. 

Liberia has recognized education as a public concern and has its 
system of public schools. The system embraces Liberia College, in 
Monrovia, for higher education, four feeders or intermediate schools 
between the college and the lower schools, and the common schools. 
The college lacks the barest necessities in the way of equipment, and 
its courses of study scarcely equal those of a high school. The inter¬ 
mediate and common schools suffer for want of schoolhouses and 
efficient teachers. Annual appropriations for the support of schools 
are very small and are paid with much uncertainty. Certainly a 
radical reconstruction of its schools is one of Liberia’s greatest needs. 
An effective system of public education can not be maintained with¬ 
out considerable expenditure of public money. In Liberia the neces¬ 
sities have been so urgent and its resources so small that it has not 
been able to make adequate provisions because of the poverty of the 
resources at their command. So long as the appropriations continue 
what they are there can be little hope of the development of a proper 
system of public education. And so long as the revenues of the 
country are not materially augmented there is little prospect that 
the Republic will be able to make larger appropriations for this serv¬ 
ice. The best educational effort in the country is at the present time 
under church auspices, and some of the schools maintained by re¬ 
ligious organizations are commendable. The judgment of the com¬ 
mission is that the necessary reorganization and enlargement of the 
school system must wait upon larger revenues, and has no specific 
measure of assistance to recommend. 


24 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


THE REFORM PROGRAMME. 


Most of the problems heretofore discussed are inherent in the 
situation, though some of them have become more acute through the 
irritation engendered by unsuccessful attempts at their solution. 
That Liberia, if it desires to maintain its place as an independent 
nation, must address itself to the solution of these problems is ob¬ 
vious. This point of view was impressed on President Barclay by 
the British foreign office on the occasion of his visit to London in 
September, 1907. The programme which was then laid out involved 
four things: (1) The strengthening of the customs administration by 
the appointment of three additional British officials; (2) the estab¬ 
lishment of an adequate frontier police force under European officials; 
(3) the reform of the treasury; and (4) the reform of the judiciary. 
The merit of these suggestions is incontestable, and the programme 
thus outlined must be regarded as eminently proper advice from a 
friendly nation. After Mr. Barclay returned to Liberia, and shortly 
after the opening of the legislature of 1907-8, these suggestions were 
presented to Liberia in a letter from His Majesty’s consul-general in 
Monrovia in rather more peremptory terms. In his letter the consul 
states that if these reforms are carried out within six months, Great 
Britain will be disposed to help, but if not, will be inclined to demand 
immediate adjustment of all pending questions. By this letter advice 
becomes transformed into demand. To this peremptory demand, and 
the inconsiderate haste in the inauguration of reforms to which it 
led, the failure of the reform programme must be largely charged. 
The Liberian Government endeavored to the best of its ability to do 
what was expected of it and acquiesced entirely in the proposed pro¬ 
gramme. It appointed new officials in the customs service, passed a 
law creating a frontier force under European officials, and took steps 
to establish the chief inspector of customs, Mr. W. J. Lamont, as the 
financial adviser of the Kepublic. 

Unfortunately the progress of the reform was not smooth and 
easy. There can be no doubt that considerable progress was made 
in the path of reform thus entered upon. That it failed of com¬ 
plete realization, and that in the early part of 1909 it came to a 
sudden stop, was due more than anything else to the bungling of 
British officials. The British consul-general displayed an utter lack 
of diplomatic qualifications for the difficult task of adviser to a for¬ 
eign power which had been intrusted to him, and the British com¬ 
mander of the frontier force became embroiled in successive contro¬ 
versies with his Liberian employers which resulted in his discharge. 
One can not but regret that the reform movement so auspiciously 
begun should have suffered this check. 


ECONOMIC NECESSITIES. 

Liberia’s great source of wealth is her forests, which yield her palm 
tul, palm kernels, piassava fiber, and rubber. These' constitute the 
bulk of her exports. The gathering of these products is the work of 
natives, who sometimes labor under the direction of the Liberian 
but more frequently barter the results of their independent toil with 
the Liberian or direct with the^ foreign merchant. Liberia fails to 
realize the full value of what she exports, because crude and wasteful 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


25 


methods of gathering these products and preparing them for the 
export trade deprives them of a part of their value. More attention 
paid to these matters would undoubtedly enhance the value of the 
product. 

The chief agricultural export of the Americo-Liberians is coffee. 
At one time the coffee industry was in a very flourishing condition, 
but is now stagnant or retrograde. The competition of other coun¬ 
tries, notably of Brazil, which has brought to the world’s market 
cheaper and better prepared coffees, has brought discouragement to 
the Liberian planter whose tiny crop no longer brings him those ex¬ 
cellent prices which once rewarded his industry. He has grown 
listless and careless. He has not studied to adapt himself to the new 
conditions and continues to cultivate and harvest the old crop in the 
old way. The situation of coffee growing outside of Brazil is far 
from hopeless, but planters elsewhere must be content with smaller 
profits than before and must meet the Brazilian competition by plac¬ 
ing their product on the market in the best possible shape. Crude 
and antiquated processes prevail in Liberia, and it has done little 
to meet these conditions. 

Liberia has little more than scratched the surface of its soil in a 
very small portion of its area. While not an extensive Country, it 
is very inaccessible for lack of proper means of communication. 
Rivers are navigable for a short distance from the coast only before 
rapids are reached; rough roads in the civilized settlements and 
forest trails and paths in the interior country are the only avenues of 
i communication. Wheeled vehicles are almost unknown, and except 
for some water transport as the coast is neared, all the trade which 
j flows from the interior comes upon the backs and heads of native 
3 carriers. This woeful absence of means of communication restricts 
| greatly the area in which trade can originate, as well as minimizes 
the influence of Monrovia in the interior and presents great obstacles 
; to the effective control of interior points.. Mention has already been 
made of the situation in Kanre-Lahun in the northwestern section of 
Liberia. To reach this point through Liberian territory requires 
; some twelve or fifteen days’ march through the bush, and a longer 
v< time in the rainy season. It is significant that Liberian officials, who 
i preceded the commission to this point, as did the commission itself, 
I adopted the longer but speedier route by sea to Freetown, and thence 
I by rail through Sierra Leone to a point only 15 miles distant from 
I their destination. 

The difficulties of communication in the interior do not result from 
I the topographical configuration of the country, but rather from the 
* absence of highways through the forest country. As a result, the 
I interior of Liberia is as little known to the Liberians themselves as 
1 to the world at large. What its extensive forests may be able to 
I produce, what stores of wealth lie hidden in them, what value the 
\ cleared land would have for agricultural purposes they simply do 
ij not know. 

A still further difficulty in the way of Liberian commerce is the 
j want of harbors and the consequent difficulties of shipping goods. 
When produce has with great labor been brought to the coast towns, 
there still remains the task of shipment. This, on account of the 
shallow water on the bars at the mouths of the rivers, is a costly and 
often dangerous task. 



26 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


There is every reason to believe from the natural fertility of the 
soil and the luxuriance of its vegetation, that the country has great 
possibilities. But a more accurate knowledge must be had before 
they can be developed into fruitful sources of national wealth. 
There is, however, much reason to hope that were the natural re¬ 
sources of the country better known and more fully utilized, Liberia 
would be rid of much of the embarrassment which now perplexes 
her. With an increase in the economic activities would come an in¬ 
crease in national wealth, and the present painfully meager resources 
of the public treasury would be so increased that Liberia could easily 
meet the requirements of a modern and effective administration of its 
duties as a state which now press so hard upon her. 

To the difficulties here enumerated must be added the lack of inter¬ 
est in industrial pursuits. The people are largely engaged in govern¬ 
mental and commercial pursuits. Trades and industries languish. 
Most of the skilled workers in Liberia are said to be from Sierra 
Leone. Nearly all manufactured articles are imported. While 
Liberia will never perhaps become a manufacturing country, greater 
attention will be necessary to the development of trades and indus¬ 
tries before a high order of national thrift can be secured. 

COLONIZATION. 

In the present economic condition of Liberia just described, the 
commission is quite unable to recommend to the American negro any 
extensive emigration to that country. It believes that there is a 
field there for a large body of civilized negroes, but is equally certain 
that under existing conditions the emigrant who carries thither little 
beside his physical strength and his willingness to work out his own 
salvation would encounter little but hardship at the outset, and but 
a slim prospect of founding a comfortable economic existence for 
himself and his family. Liberia has much to do before it can offer 
tempting prospects to the would-be settler. 

Its laws concerning immigration are fairly liberal and fairly in¬ 
telligent. But its execution of the laws has fallen into disuse. One 
can imagine no greater embarrassment for the Liberian authorities 
than the unannounced arrival on their shores of a company of 200 or 
300 immigrant laborers. If we can trust the statute books, land they 
have in abundance, but it is unsurveyed, it is inaccessible for lack of 
roads, and covered with a dense forest growth. 

The Liberians know too little about their own country and under¬ 
stand too little how to develop its resources to be able to render any 
assistance to immigrants. A systematic study of the resources of 
the country; a knowledge of its products and the best methods of 
gathering them; a knowledge of the possibilities of its land and how 
it can best be brought under cultivation; the construction of at least 
one good road into the interior where better lands and more salu¬ 
brious climate for man and beast are found—all these are necessary 
before Liberia can begin to offer inducements to immigrants. Liberia 
has neither the means nor the knowledge to enable her to prosecute 
such an effective study of her oavii country. No greater service could 
be rendered than to undertake for her such a study of her country 
as would enable Liberia to find herself economically, to enter into 
her own heritage, and to open hospitable doors to desirable immi¬ 
grants from the United States. 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


27 


PRESENT CONDITIONS DEMAND FOREIGN HELP. 

To meet the problems which have been enumerated, Liberia is by 
her own confession powerless without the friendly aid and guidance 
of a more powerful nation strong where she is weak, in knowledge, 
in intelligence and resourcefulness. Apart from boundary questions, 
in which whatever skill in diplomatic negotiation Liberia might have 
has been overborne by the overwhelming force of her adversaries, com¬ 
pelling the acceptance of unfavorable adjustment, the problems dis¬ 
cussed are in their essence problems of internal order and develop¬ 
ment. But through the weakness of Liberia and her inability to solve 
them by her own efforts, they have assumed an international aspect. 
The need of financial aid has thrown the administration of her cus¬ 
toms into foreign hands, and the solicitude of her creditors lest their 
security be impaired has given new force to the demand for financial 
reorganization and proper methods in the conduct of her internal 
finances. As Liberians lack the technical financial experience to ac¬ 
complish this purpose they must call foreigners to their assistance. 
The need of controlling more effectively the natives on her frontiers 
and elsewhere gives rise to the need of an effective constabulary, and 
as the Liberian again lacks the technical military skill to organize 
such a force she must appeal to the foreigner. She has asked, more¬ 
over, the assistance of other countries in developing her agriculture 
and her schools, and has expressed a wish for experts in the postal 
and other branches of administration to put her whole government 
service upon a satisfactory basis. 

Liberia is in more or less intimate relations with four great pow¬ 
ers—Great Britain, France, the German Empire, and the United 
States—to all of whom she has turned in times past for sympathy and 
support, and none of whom have been wholly deaf to her appeal. 
With Great Britain her relations have been more intimate than with 
the others. This nation has repeatedly expressed her friendly inter¬ 
est in the welfare of Liberia, and has given unmistakable evidences 
of it. She alone has thus far proffered the aid of her citizens in help¬ 
ing the Liberians to solve some of the internal problems. But how¬ 
ever excellent may have been Great Britain’s intentions, however 
commendable the not inconsiderable beginnings of reform made under 
the guidance of British officials, the experiment has turned out disas¬ 
trously. Precipated, perhaps, by the unfortunate personalities of 
those entrusted with the work in Liberia, a crisis occurred in Liberian 
affairs last spring, which brought a considerable part of the work 
undertaken to a dramatic conclusion. 

Those untoward events left behind them a spirit of great bitterness, 
which is thoroughly explicable, whether well founded or otherwise. 
Under present conditions it is difficult to find among the Liberians 
any who have entire confidence in the disinterestedness of Great 
Britain. Those who led the reform movement and supported the 
British officials as long as it was possible to do so are now in a dis¬ 
tinctly apologetic attitude, while the masses of the people, never 
enamored of the ascendency of British interests in Liberian affairs, 
are openly distrustful of everything British. The events of recent 
days are magnified and are taken as evidences of sinister design, 
while the half-forgotten wrongs of the past are revived in evidence 
that Great Britain never was nor could be thoroughly friendly. 


28 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


The interests of Great Britain have too often run counter to those of 
Liberia for this attitude of the public mind to be wholly groundless. 
Aggressions upon Liberian territory, only less frequent than those of 
France, incline to the belief that "Great Britain would be only too 
willing to absorb the country. It is natural that Liberians should 
look askance at measures which tended to place in the hands of 
British officials the entire finances of the country and its only effect¬ 
ive military force. It is only too natural that they should face the 
probability that the interests of those persons as Liberian officials 
and as British subjects should come into conflict, with results dis¬ 
astrous for Liberia. 

But even if the Liberians were blind to this situation, the French 
were there to open their eyes. Even if Liberia saw in it no element of 
danger, the French were suspicious and made emphatic protest 
against handing over the governmental interests of the Republic to 
British officials. In recent years the attitude of France toward Li¬ 
beria has hardly been disguised under forms of friendship. She has 
shown herself disposed to push her boundaries remorselessly into 
Liberian territory, and has used every available pretext to that end. 
Her interest in Liberia is apparently that of an heir expectant. 
She has made no offer to help Liberia, and her demand for a share 
in the internal administration of the country was not dictated by 
any zeal for the welfare of Liberia, but simply and only to safe¬ 
guard her own eventual interests. If Liberia is to be dismembered, 
France wants a share of it. In view of this situation the Liberians 
fully realize that to invite at this juncture the aid of France in the 
accomplishment of the reforms which have been postponed, but not 
abandoned, would be to leap from the frying pan into the fire. 

With Germany the relations of Liberia have in recent years not 
been marred by any of those conflicts which ruffle the waters of inter¬ 
national friendship. In Liberia’s differences with her neighbors, 
Germany has lent her at least a sympathetic understanding. For the 
time being at least, Germany seems to have renounced any idea she 
may once have had of gaining a foothold in Liberian territory and 
appears content to foster as much as may be the development of her 
commercial interests. Yet the evidences of her growing influence 
are obvious, though as yet her Government is not committed to any 
definite policy. It is generally believed in Liberia that Germany has 
been biding her time till she could undertake with good grace an 
intervention in Liberian affairs. There is less suspicion among Libe¬ 
rians that Germany might be disposed to serve her own ends 
than in the case of Great Britain and France. But if Germany 
has no immediate territorial interest in Liberia, it has ambitious de¬ 
signs in Africa. It is a colonial power wdiose actions are jealously 
watched by other nations and she could not assume a prominent role 
in Liberian affairs without awakening the suspicion of Great Britain 
and France. 

Liberia is thus confronted by the fact that she can not, without 
serious danger, call to her aid either Great Britain, France, or Ger¬ 
many. Two of these powers she deeply distrusts, and each of them 
distrusts the other two. None of them could guide and direct the 
needed reforms in Liberian administration without great friction, 
threatening the outcome of the proposed action, and leaving Liberia 
in a more precarious situation than before. The logic of the situa- 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


29 


tion in the minds of the Liberians points therefore to the United 
States as the only country which can give them effective aid. Of all 
Liberia's friends she alone is open to no suspicion of ulterior designs 
upon Liberia, and she alone can give assurances to Great Britain and 
France and Germany that the legitimate interests of those countries 
in Liberia, whatever they may be, will not be placed in jeopardy by 
her actions. 


LIBERIA LOOKS TO THE UNITED STATES. 

It is readily comprehensible why, under the present conditions, 
Liberia looks to the United States for the solution of her present 
pressing difficulties. This feeling is widespread and pervades all 
classes of the community. Indeed among certain classes of the com¬ 
munity the impression seems to prevail that all that is needed for 
the immediate salvation of Liberia is for the United States to take a 
hand in her affairs, and that should it do so all the strength, the 
vigor, the civilization and progress which characterize our country 
would in some mysterious manner be infused into Liberia. The com¬ 
mission has no desire to disguise the fact that the great majority of 
the people of Liberia expect much of the people of the United States; 
in fact, they expect too much. It found it necessary in its public 
utterances to discourage the belief that if the United States were 
to intervene, all of Liberia’s troubles would speedily come to an end. 
The commission had to point out that the best which the United 
States could offer to the Liberians was guidance; that the work of 
redeeming the country must be the labor of the Liberians themselves. 
Moreover, it was pointed out that the sphere within which a foreign 
nation could be of practical assistance to them was comparatively 
limited and that there were many things needful for the regeneration 
of their country which they must of necessity do themselves. It is 
not our province to enumerate these things specifically, but we could 
not fail to be impressed by the fact that few of the civilized Liberians 
were actively and energetically engaged in productive industry; that 
the professions and public employment seem to be the only goal of 
ambition; and the feeling could not at times be repressed that the 
Liberians were willing to receive their salvation but unwilling to 
work it out. 

On the other hand, it should be most distinctly stated that the 
official classes in Liberia do not share these exaggerated views. They 
impressed the commission as being reasonable in their views as to what 
the United States might offer them. Looking at the matter from the 
standpoint of Liberia, they were naturally prone to hope that the in¬ 
tervention of the United States in their affairs might be not only 
effective but far reaching. It was not to be expected that they should 
view the situation from the standpoint of the United States, or weigh 
carefully whether the action requested, however beneficial it might be 
to Liberia, was consistent with the policy of the United States, or was 
likely to receive the unqualified approval of the citizens of her 
country. 

On behalf of the Government of Liberia a formal statement of sug¬ 
gestions was made to the commission. It is a dignified and moderate 
document, far removed from the visionary and fantastic expectations 
encountered in some unofficial circles. 


30 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


These suggestions are: 

1. That the Government of the United. States he requested to guarantee as far 
as practicable the independence and integrity of Liberia, either alone or in con¬ 
junction with certain European powers. 

2. To advise and counsel the Government of Liberia on international affairs 
and with respect to reforms. 

3. The Government of the United States be requested to liquidate the foreign 
and local indebtedness of the Republic, taking over the control of its financial 
and customs administrations for a period of years sufficient to effect a reorgani¬ 
zation and systemization of same under American experts and allowing to the 
Republic an annual sum to be hereinafter agreed upon for the payment of the 
expenses of the Government and for internal improvements until the amount ad¬ 
vanced by the United States for the liquidation of the indebtedness of the Re¬ 
public be paid. 

4. That the United States Government be requested to furnish the Republic 
with experts for service in such departments of government as may be deemed 
necessary—at the expense of the fatter—in order to facilitate and carry out the 
necessary reforms. 

5. That the Government of the United States be requested to use its good 
offices in inducing American capitalists—either in conjunction with foreign cap¬ 
italists or alone—to establish a bank in Liberia which shall receive the revenues 
of the Republic and make advances to the Government upon terms to be agreed 
upon, and also to construct and run railways and other improvements. 

6. That the Government of the United States be requested to enter into an 
arbitration treaty with Liberia, and to use its good and kind offices with the 
European powers interested in West Africa to enter into similar engagements 
with the Republic. 

7. That the American Government be requested to use their good offices to 
secure the equitable execution of the boundray arrangements entered into be¬ 
tween the Government of Liberia and the Governments of Great Britain and 
France, especially to assist the Government of Liberia diplomatically to secure 
possession of the Kanre Lahun section and other sections in the north of Liberia, 
now occupied by Great Britain, which by the Anglo-Liberian boundary commis¬ 
sion were acknowledged to this Republic, as well as the securing to Liberia the 
hinterland recognized as Liberian by the conventions concluded between her and 
France, but which has been materially altered to the detriment of Liberia by 
the delimitation commission of 1908-9. 

8. That the Government of the United States be requested to undertake a 
scientific research of the country with the view of ascertaining a more accurate 
knowledge of its mineral, vegetable, and other resources, and to interest Ameri¬ 
can capitalists in the development of the same; and also to aid the Government 
of Liberia in the establishment of a school for scientific medical research with 
particular reference to the study of tropical diseases. 

9. To aid the Government of Liberia in establishing industrial schools in one 
or more of the counties of the Republic with a view of promoting a knowledge of 
such trades and industries as will render the Republic self-reliant. 

10. To aid in establishing civilized centers on the frontiers and hinterland 
in order to accelerate the uplifting and improvement of the natives and per- 
peputate the object of the American founders of Liberia. 

11. To supervise the organization of a police and frontier force under Ameri¬ 
can officers. 

12. To request the United States war ships to visit Liberia annually, or 
oftener. 

13. It is the anxious desire of Liberia that closer business relations and a 
substantial sail or steam service be established between the mother country 
and ours, and to this end we earnestly ask that the United States will encourage 
and foster a regular line of steamers (by an American company) to carry 
mails and passengers to and from Liberia as well as African produce to the 
American markets. 

14. The Government of Liberia here express its willingness to concede to 
the Government of the United States any rights and privileges for the con¬ 
struction of coaling stations or any other enterprises which she may deem 
necessary to enter upon that would be beneficial to the people and Government 
of the United States, the same not being inconsistent with existing treaty 
stipulations with other foreign powers. 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


31 


Whether or not the Liberian requests can be granted in their en¬ 
tirety, there is in the traditional attitude of the United States and 
in the past history of her dealings with Liberia much to encourage 
the Liberians in the belief that their hopes may be realized. The 
commission is firmly convinced that they have a rightful claim upon 
our aid and assistance. It is, moreover, not less firm in its belief 
that considerations of national honor and duty urge that the United 
States help these people whose Commonwealth was founded by the 
people of the United States with the aid and assistance of its Gov¬ 
ernment. 

More than once the United States has intervened in behalf of the 
people of Liberia. Our Government has repeatedly expressed to 
European powers its keen interest in the welfare of that country 
and has striven to its utmost to secure justice and equity in the deal¬ 
ings of foreign powers with the Republic. The duty of our Govern¬ 
ment toward this people has been expressed in numbers of state 
papers, but nowhere perhaps more adequately and forcefully than in 
the letter of Secretary Root to the President, under date of January 
18, 1909, when he said: 

It is unnecessary to argue that the duty of the United States toward the un¬ 
fortunate victims of the slave trade was not completely performed by landing 
them upon the coast of Africa and that our nation rests under the highest 
obligations to*assist them, so far as they need assistance, toward the main¬ 
tenance of free, orderly, and prosperous civil society. 

A review of the history of the relations of the United States with 
Liberia brings the commission to the conclusion that, beyond a series 
of notable expressions of good will and friendship, its positive re¬ 
sults have been painfully meager. Heretofore the aid of the United 
States has been sought by Liberia and proffered to Liberia almost 
wholly to ward off dangers from without. Had they been more suc¬ 
cessful, they would at the best have preserved to Liberia a larger 
sphere of action without conferring on her any of the strength neces¬ 
sary to maintain and develop it. For the first time in our history 
an opportunity is now offered to the United States to embody in 
positive action its traditional interest in the affairs of the Republic 
and thus fulfill a duty incumbent upon the United States from the 
circumstances under which that Commonwealth had its origin. The 
situation in Liberia, calling as it has imperatively for the aid of a 
foreign power, no other power but the United States being in a 
position to offer such aid, the duty of the United States toward 
Liberia being expressly recognized by our Government and our 
commission having been appointed “ with a view to reporting recom¬ 
mendations as to the specific action on the part of the Government 
of the United States which will constitute the most effective meas¬ 
ures of relief,” we have the honor to present herewith the following 
unanimous recommendations: 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

1. That the United States extend its aid to Liberia in the prompt 
settlement of pending boundary disputes. 

The Government of Liberia has, through its envoys to the United 
States, requested that our Government enter into a treaty which shall 
guarantee the independence and territorial integrity of the Republic. 


32 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


By so doing the United States would be forced to assume a protec¬ 
torate over Liberia, which that Government has already been advised 
is out of the question. None the less it is perfectly clear that in the 
present situation the unsettled boundaries of the country are an 
obstacle to its internal development. A prompt settlement of these 
disputes on a definite basis, which, if possible, should be more con¬ 
siderate of the legitimate claims of Liberia than have been such 
adjustments in times past, would remove one of the greatest hinder - 
ances to progress in Liberia. This former settlements have been 
ineffective to accomplish, because they have been vague and indefinite. 
Each treaty which has thus far been consummated has contained the 
germs of new difficulties. The time has come when such vague and 
indefinite treaties can no longer be tolerated. The territories through 
which boundaries run are no longer unexplored, but are becoming 
daily better known. African geography is being reduced from 
imagination to fact. The border territories are being traversed and 
occupied by powerful nations. Under these conditions it is not only 
possible but it is imperative that the boundary lines should be definite 
and unmistakable; that they should not only be fixed by treaty, but 
that they should be definitely surveyed. If this is accomplished the 
maintenance of the territorial integrity of Liberia will not present 
the same difficulties as it does to-day. It is not by a treaty guarantee¬ 
ing to Liberia its territorial integrity with limits most difficult to 
define that the United States can best protect that Republic from the 
encroachments of her neighbors. It is rather by lending its influence 
that these boundaries may be fixed definitely once and for all that it 
can accomplish the end desired by Liberia. 

Alone Liberia is helpless to achieve this purpose. Her negotiations 
in the past have been handled with some skill, but she has at every 
turn been forced to yield. The United States should come to her aid 
more effectively than in the past. It is believed that a form of action 
can be found which is consistent with diplomatic usage which will 
enable the United States to appear as attorney or next friend of 
Liberia and bring to the negotiation of her difficulties the ability and 
prestige of the United States. 

So far as the adjustment of her difficulties with foreign countries 
has been delayed and a vigorous reclamation of her rights has been 
impeded by the fear that such settlements would involve monetary 
payments, which Liberia fears she is unable to make, the difficulties 
should be met by a guarantee of the United States of the prompt 
fulfillment of such eventual monetary obligations. Liberia should by 
treaty provide to secure the United States the repayment of any sums 
which it might become necessary for her Government to disburse 
under this guarantee. Such repayment could be readily arranged if 
the recommendations of the commission be accepted in their entirety. 

2. That the United States enable Liberia to refund its debt by 
assuming as a guarantee for the payment of obligations under such 
arrangement the control and collection of the Liberian customs. 

The debt of Liberia is partly foreign and partly domestic. A por¬ 
tion of the former is now T guaranteed by the control of customs 
under British officials. It is proposed that the entire debt of Liberia, 
both foreign and domestic, should be reorganized; that the obliga¬ 
tions of Liberia should be clear, explicit, and uniform; and that in 
order to effect this a customs receivership analogous to that now ex- 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


33 


isting in Santo Domingo should be established. By the refunding 
of the debt, the Liberian treasury would be relieved of certain heavy 
payments which it is now under obligations to make. An annual 
payment for the debt service, no greater than that provided in the 
present budget, would serve to pay oh all existing charges to abolish 
the floating debt and make definite provision for its payment. At 
no greater cost than it is now incurring, the Liberian Government 
could by such arrangement obtain a far more satisfactory service. 
Such a comprehensive measure would far more than the present 
arrangement justify the Government in placing the collection of its 
customs, as it has already done, in the hands of foreign officials. 
It would, moreover, eliminate the present arrangement and do away 
with British officials who, though efficient in the discharge of their 
duties, are at the present time distasteful to the Liberian people. 

The United States should only enter into such an arrangement in 
case it can confer notable advantages upon the Republic of Liberia 
by lightening the burden of its debt. Apart from the debt of 1906 
Liberian securities and other evidences of debt are considerably 
below par and difficult to negotiate. If the arrangement proposed 
offers ready negotiability as well as prompt and certain payment of 
interest and other debt charges, it renders a valuable service to the 
holders of the debt for which they should be willing to pay. There 
can be little dotibt that to secure the advantages referred to the 
holders would be glad to consent to appropriate reductions in the 
principal of the debt. 

It is proposed that all payments of interest and other charges 
should be made directty from the customs receipts by the receiver 
of customs. It is further proposed that the cash proceeds of the 
loan so far as they may be available for purposes other than adjust¬ 
ing existing debts shall be disbursed only for purposes of strengthen¬ 
ing the public credit or for public works with the approval of the 
receiver of customs. 

The commission has carefully studied the banking aspects of this 
proposition. It has been assured that if the United States will adopt 
measures similar to those which adjusted the Dominican debt there 
can be no doubt that the Liberian loan could be readily financed on 
terms favorable to Liberia. 

3. That the United States lend its assistance to the Liberian 
Government in the reform of its internal finances. 

If the United States assumes control of the collection of customs 
in Liberia it should appoint as customs receiver a person capable of 
exercising the functions of financial adviser to the Liberian Govern¬ 
ment, and the duties of such an adviser should be fixed by agreement 
with the Government of Liberia. It is not proposed to invest this 
official with any administrative duties as concerns the general finan¬ 
cial transactions of the Republic. With the recognized need of 
reform in the Liberian treasury an official of this character, who 
avou Id exercise his functions wisely and discreetly, could be of the 
utmost assistance. In the judgment of the commission the reform 
in treasury methods can not be accomplished by a reorganization de 
novo, but must proceed gradually, establishing from time to time cer¬ 
tain definite principles of correct administration and gradually de¬ 
veloping details as these fundamental principles are incorporated 

S. Doc. 457—60-1-3 


34 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


into the financial practice of the Liberian Republic. The practical 
training of Liberians in the work of national finance should be the 
constant aim of the financial adviser, with a view to enabling them 
ultimately to take complete charge of their own affairs. 

It would add to the force of such an arrangement if from time to 
time the condition and methods of the Liberian treasury should be 
subject to the inspection and report of auditors appointed by the 
Government of the United States. 

4. That the United States should lend its aid to Liberia in organiz¬ 
ing the drilling an adequate constabulary or frontier police force. 

The proposal is that not less than three officers from the American 
Army should be sent to Liberia to complete the work begun by British 
officers, and train up a body of Liberians capable of eventually taking 
over the command of the force. It should be an essential condition 
of such an arrangement that the present law placing the command of 
the force in the hands of a Liberian should be regarded as temporary 
only and be repealed, such repeal taking effect upon the assumption 
of command by the American officer chosen for this duty by the War 
Department. 

It is highly desirable that the chief of this force should be a com¬ 
missioned officer having in the American Army a rank not below that 
of captain, who should in the Liberian service have the rank of major 
and the emoluments corresponding to that rank in the service of the 
United States. His associates might be chosen from the more ex¬ 
perienced first lieutenants, and should receive in Liberia the rank 
and pay of captains. It is of course understood that the acceptance 
of such service abroad would not cause these officers to lose their place 
in the United States Army. Under the agreements with Great Brit¬ 
ain the whole cost of the salaries of the foreign officers was borne by 
the Government of Liberia. This was for Liberia a large charge 
which, with the superior pay scale of the American Army, would be 
still heavier were a like arrangement made. 

It is therefore recommended that these officers be detailed from 
the army of the United States and continue to draw the compensation 
of their rank from the United States, and that Liberia agree to pay 
the difference between the salary of the actual rank and that given 
them in the Liberian service. It appears to the members of the com¬ 
mission that if no legal obstacle interposes there is ample justification 
for such a course. The experience gained by such officers would in¬ 
crease their efficiency in their future service in the army of the United 
States. _ The practice of governments in detailing officers to foreign 
embassies and to observe the maneuvers and wars of foreign countries 
offers many analogies. 

If, however, legal obstacles prevent the course above outlined, the 
commission has an alternative suggestion. It is that officers of 
unusual experience and ability be selected from the highest ranks of 
the noncommissioned officers, and that Liberia pay them the salaries 
current in the United States for first lieutenants and second lieu¬ 
tenants. If the proper men were selected, this course would, it is 
believed, be almost as effective for all practical purposes in Liberia 
as the first pfan. It is quite true that such officers would not carry 
with them the prestige of commissioned officers. It is possibly true 
that the resulting organization in Liberia would be less accomplished 
as a military unit, but equally effective as a police force. 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


35 


The experience of Porto Rico, where an effective police battalion 
was under command of former noncommissioned officers of the army, 
proves that such a proposition is practical and not visionary. What 
is wanted among these men is drill and military discipline. They act 
in small squads and not as a mass. In such action it is the bearing 
and discretion of the petty officers and the enlisted men, rather than 
the military skill of the absent captain, which gives the issue. The 
need of a high degree of military training in the command of such a 
force seems to the commission greatly exaggerated, and founded more 
upon the example of other nations than upon the necessities of the 
case. We believe that a force commanded by men of the highest 
military training would be more respected by Liberian neighbors, 
but that a force commanded by men of more modest attainments 
would serve the immediate purposes of Liberia equally well. 

The commission believes that whichever plan be adopted the men 
chosen for this service should be taken, if possible, from our negro 
regiments. The service would be peculiarly attractive to such men 
and offer them, perhaps, opportunities for more rapid advancement 
in their profession than could be hoped for at home. They would, 
it is believed, bring to the service a peculiar interest and zeal, which 
would go far toward making their service effective. 

The various recommendations of the commission, if carried out, 
would require the negotiation of a treaty or treaties with Liberia. 
Inasmuch as irregularity of pay is one of the frequent and well- 
founded complaints in the Liberian service, provision should be made 
that all American citizens who enter the Liberian service by virtue of 
agreements made with our Government should receive promptly all 
sums due them for such services by the Liberian Government. This 
can best be effected by making such payments a charge against the 
customs duties, and payable by the customs receiver directly from his 
receipts before turning them over to the Liberian treasury. 

5. That the United States should establish and maintain a research 
station in Liberia. 

The object of such station should be the scientific research of the 
natural phenomena of the country, the development and preservation 
of its sources of wealth, the effect of climate on health, and the 
causes, treatment, and cure of tropical diseases. In this the commis¬ 
sion believes that the underlying purpose of the recent request of the 
Liberian Government to send to that country an expert from its 
Department of Agriculture 'could best be carried out. The problem 
before the Liberians is a large one. Their country is little known 
either to the world or to themselves. A knowledge of its natural 
phenomena would be the most effective service which could be ren¬ 
dered to it in aid of its internal development. It would bring to the 
attention of the people the importance in agriculture which would 
stimulate present production and w T ould undoubtedly discover new 
forms of agriculture to which the country was well adapted. It 
would, moreover, by its researches in the field of hygiene and sanita¬ 
tion, enable them better to resist the ravages of the climate and, by 
improving the general health of the community, add to its w T ealth. 
It would by its researches do much to open up the great hinterland 
and would point the way to productive enterprise in the means of 
communication. No other service which could be rendered the Libe- 


36 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


rians at the present time would be more fundamental and give greater 
assurance of future prosperity to the country. 

Such a station would, moreover, have obvious advantages to the 
people of the United States. Through our possessions in the Philip¬ 
pine Islands, in Porto Rico, and the Canal Zone, we are called upon 
to contribute our share to the national developments of life in the 
Tropics. The problems of agriculture and of sanitation are especially 
urgent. These problems can be solved only on the basis of experi¬ 
ment and comparative observation. We can learn what to do and 
what to favor in our own tropical possessions, not only by a study of 
their own conditions, but also by a study of those prevailing in other 
tropical regions. For such comparative purpose they are at the pres¬ 
ent time wholly dependent upon the researches of other nations. 
There is little doubt that apart from its contributions to the world’s 
knowledge, the results of such research in tropical Africa would 
inure directly to the benefit of the United States in dealing with 
the problems of its own tropical possessions. 

The United States has already in its brief career in the Tropics 
made researches and discoveries which have enriched the world’s 
knowledge of tropical conditions. It is to be anticipated that were 
a well-equipped station established in Liberia, there w r ould be further 
fruits of research which would redound to the credit of the United 
States. It would afford to the American student an opportunity for 
study of the natural products of the continent of Africa in one of its 
least explored and probably richest parts. , 

Nor is it to be overlooked that such a station would in a few years 
acquire a vast store of information for the instruction and direction 
of immigrants from the United States. Under favorable conditions 
Liberia can offer great advantages to our negro fellow-citizens. 
Until, however, the necessary information regarding the country can 
be placed before would-be immigrants in some systematic and effect¬ 
ive way, attempts on the part of American immigrants to make a 
home in Africa must be attended with great probability of disaster. 

The organization of such a bureau would involve the concurrent 
action of several of the departments of government, to which may 
well be left the arrangement of such details as the selection of a suit¬ 
able scientific staff and provision for an adequate equipment for their 
work. 

6. That the United States reopen the question of establishing a 
naval coaling station in Liberia. 

The Liberian Government has at different times requested the 
United States to establish a coaling station within the boundaries 
of that country and has agreed to cede to the Government of the 
United States the land necessary for that purpose. Investigations 
made by the Navy Department show that the only available point is 
immediately adjacent to Monrovia, the capital of the country. To 
such a location the Liberians have no objections and are quite willing 
to cede the necessary land for the purpose. Such a naval station 
would involve rather expensive harbor works and estimates of the 
cost of such works have been prepared by the engineer officers of the 
navy. 

With the growing importance of the navy of the United States 
and with the increasing share of her country in world movements, it 
would appear to the members of the commission that this question 


AFFAIRS IN LIBERIA. 


37 


might well receive further study. The reports submitted to the Navy 
Department are not altogether unfavorable to the project and some 
representatives of that department are most strongly inclined toward 
it. The commission does not feel qualified to pass judgment upon the 
technical aspects of the case. It can only point out the service which 
such a station would lend to the prestige of the United States in 
Liberia, and the advantages which would accrue to that country 
from the expenditure for that purpose and from the encouragement 
and support which would follow the more frequent visits of our 
naval officials to its shores. The benefits which such a station would 
confer upon Liberia are obvious. It would give her at the capital 
city a safe and commodious harbor. The dangers attendant upon 
navigation and the shipping and landing of goods would be removed. 
With this great obstacle to commerce removed greater inducements 
would present themselves for the construction of railroads to the 
interior and the bringing of Liberian wealth into the commerce of 
the world. 

It has not been deemed wise to incorporate in these recommenda 
tions all of the details which would be necessary to a complete realiza 
tion of the plans proposed. These must be largely the result of fur¬ 
ther study and of diplomatic negotiations. The commission has felt 
that the minutiae of such plans was beyond its strict province, and that 
in submitting in general terms the principles upon which it believes 
the United States should take specific action in aid of Liberia it has 
fulfilled the trust committed to it. 

Respectfully submitted. 

Roland P. Falkner, 

George Sale, 

Emmett J. Scott, 

Commissioners of the United States 

of America to the Republic of Liberia. 

Geo. A. Finch, 
Secretary of the Commission. 

The Secretary of Stat?. 


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